Google’s services are free. iCloud is free, with the exception of iTunes Match. However, the age old debate concerning Google crops up here yet again — ads.

Google shows ads because it is the only way it makes money. Apple, however doesn’t have this issue. During the keynote, Steve Jobs said that they built iCloud as something that the people at Apple themselves wanted to use, and they didn’t want to look at ads.

I think it is pretty clear that Apple sees iCloud as an investment in its operating systems, even if iCloud — as its own entity — loses money.

Of course, ad-supported free service really isn’t free. Users are paying to use Google’s services with their personal information. That is something that a growing number of consumers are uncomfortable with, and with iCloud being a free service, I think this aspect of Google’s personality will become more apparent.

This is a great comparison of philosophies between Apple and Google and how they approach cloud computing. The entire piece holds a lot of truths.

But what I quoted really hits at the heart of where my mind is. I’ve been waiting for Apple to take the next step in integrating file sharing between my devices. It was one of two hold-ups from me finally leaving Google Apps. I might can get over the second hold-up, but I’ll wait to see iCloud and iOS5 email implementation first.